SHOCK: Fallon’s ‘Tonight Show’ Welcomes Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld
Flailing late-night franchise takes stab at relevancy (but it's too late)
Pro tip for “The Tonight Show’s” Jimmy Fallon: Don’t tousle Greg Gutfeld’s hair!
Fallon’s late-night show regularly trails behind “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and the soon-to-be extinct “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert.
It’s a stunning fall from grace for a program that defined late-night TV for decades. Johnny Carson’s NBC reign will never be duplicated, but successor Jay Leno’s 20-plus-year run proved a respectable runner-up.
Now, Fallon’s showcase can’t draw a crowd, offering silly gags and watered-down Trump jokes.
Enter Gutfeld.
Fox News’ late-night superstar routinely trumps Colbert, Fallon and Kimmel in the ratings. He does so on cable television with a fraction of the budget his peers enjoy.
Yes, he’s on at 10 pm ET, but he also lacks A-list guests or other standard TV attractions. It helps to have very funny people on-air like Jamie Lissow, Michael Loftus and Jim Norton.
That explains why Fallon invited Gutfeld onto his show next week, according to the Fox News star.
Uh oh.
Fallon has carefully groomed his audience to expect left-wing jokes and progressive stars. Even the right-leaning Kid Rock, who once appeared frequently on “The Tonight Show,” is no longer a regular guest.
Don’t look for Ben Shapiro on the NBC couch, either.
Fallon did invite a major GOP figure onto his show in 2016. Future President Donald Trump appeared on the same network that hosted his “Apprentice” show for 13 years. Fallon yukked it up with Trump and even tousled the real estate mogul’s iconic ‘do.
That drove the Left and the Media, but we repeat ourselves, into a frenzy.
Trump destroys Jimmy Fallon at his Pennsylvania rally for the time when Fallon apologized for “humanizing” him during the 2016 election by messing up his hair on the Tonight Show.
“How WEAK and PATHETIC is a guy like that?” pic.twitter.com/m3Wvl8pCf2
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) September 24, 2024
Fallon later apologized for having a major political and cultural figure on the air, something any late-night host should do as much as possible.
In a sane world, that is.
Since then, Fallon has taken a dramatically liberal stance toward his monologues. He went soft on President Joe Biden for four years and hits GOP-friendly targets early and often.
He’s not as cruel as, say, Colbert, in his comedy, but he’s told right-leaning viewers they’re not welcome. Not good riddance, but riddance, to paraphrase Kimmel.
So why reverse course now?
RELATED: LATE NIGHT LIES NO LAUGHING MATTER
It’s simple. Late-night TV, as a format, is dying. “The Late Show” won’t be the only TV cancellation coming our way. Sooner or later, Fallon, Kimmel and Seth Meyers will be on the unemployment line.
Fallon’s team knows a Gutfeld appearance will spark headlines and, hopefully, a brief ratings bounce. And, yes, the Left and the Media (but we repeat ourselves) may howl in protest.
It’s time to think outside the box, at least if you’re a late-night TV producer.
Gutfeld sounded diplomatic about the appearance.
“I’m psyched about it because Fallon comes across as a great guy, nice guy,” Gutfeld told his co-hosts. “Also me going on his show shows him that he’s not worried about upsetting his peers.”
Gutfeld is wrong about that. Fallon cares deeply about upsetting his peers and their progressive brethren. He just knows there may not be a Plan B if he wants to stay on the air.
I would describe Fallon as being the least obnoxious of the left-wing late night hosts. I will definitely be watching this episode.
Imagine Gutfeld and Coal-Burt going at it. You could throw a tent over that sucker and sell it on pay-per-view.
That’s fair. But the Left doesn’t want a mild anti-Trump voice on late night. They want the real haters. And that means Fallon chased away conservative viewers for nothing.